Summary Of Sandra Greene's West African Narratives Of Slavery

In West African Narratives of Slavery, Sandra Greene charts a different route than the typical text that highlights the infamous slave trade along the coasts of West Africa. The text focuses on the lives of Africans who were slaves of their fellow Africans and provides a perspective that contrasts the stories those who faced the burdens of continental travel. To enlighten readers on the impact of the slave trade and slavery on the West African locals, Greene contextualizes primary source evidence. The use of primary source evidence allows readers to closely follow Africans enslavement on the continent and their attempts at liberation. The text also uses this primary source evidence to show the slow cultural shifts that emerge in the

Kuku’s life is symbolic as it signifies this personal battle Africans faced where they had to question their own spirituality and in essence their own person. Kuku is just one of the many who was able to reject the gods he grew up worshipping and strip himself of a key part of the African identity. Christianity, the new religion “provided new ideal orientations and material prospects in a situation of crisis.” This new Christian identity is woven into all the stories Kuku recounts to his amanuensis. When Kuku tells the story where he cooks for his father and conspire to draw the chain with which another slave escaped, he attributes their creativity to God’s grace. Likewise, in the narration of his escape, he claims to have called onto God saying, “God will surely take us home.” Even when he tells the story of his recapture into slavery, he glorifies God’s name and then goes on to explain his release as the result of God’s

The decision to end each story with thanks and praise to the Christian God shows how deeply Christianity reconstructed Kuku’s thinking. It also highlights the strong desire to share his newly constructed ideas with fellow Africans. As Greene notes, Kuku considered the new religion to be “valuable wealth” that he needed to share with his poor relatives. It is probably safe to suggest that if these encounters were documented as they occurred, it would not have been dominated with constant reminders of the Christian God’s power. It is also likely that the narrative would have shown a greater appreciation for the different roles people actually played in his life and enslavement. However, there is the possibility that the constant reminders of the Christian God’s power and role in Kuku’s life before his conversion were more of Quist’s doing. It is important to consider this alternative as this style of recognizing God’s power is only present in the narrations of enslavement. Since it is not possible to know for a fact whether Kuku dictated these reminders to the amanuensis, the reader is forced to guess if they serve as a reflection of his new reconstruction or as a redemption narrative expected from the